Guess what? Cigarettes are far more likely to give you popcorn lung

Jan 19, 2016

We recently reported on the misrepresentation of electronic cigarettes and vaping in the media frenzy around the ‘popcorn lung’ articles.

As a quick recap, ‘popcorn lung’ is an illness called bronchiolitis obliterans that is characterised by inflammation and scarring in the lung, which results in extreme breath shortness and a dry cough. The articles wrongly suggested that a study had found a link between a chemical called diacetyl (that is found in some eliquids) and ‘popcorn lung’.

Secondly, almost every article that blasted e juice for this false ‘connection’ completely failed to highlight the amount of diactyl found in combustible cigarettes.

While some 47 of 51 eliquids tested contained some level of diacetyl (not one of which was above the strict National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s safety limits for occupational exposure), every single combustible cigarette has been found to have 10 to 100 times the amount of diacetyl than any e cigarette available on the market.

Naturally, the level of these toxins are off the charts compared to the accepted safe level of diacetyl according to the NIOSH.

In a way, we can understand why the popcorn lung articles got so much coverage, while combustible cigarettes were left out of the equation. E-cigarettes have long been heralded as a significantly safer (as much as 95 per cent ) option compared to cigarettes, and as a relatively new product, many people are looking for reasons to oppose them.

Meanwhile, we’ve all heard about how bad cigarettes are for our health. We all know they contain countless chemicals that haven’t just been ‘linked’ to cancer, but are known to cause cancer and other deadly illnesses. Perhaps reporters are tired of writing about the same old stuff, but it doesn’t mean cigarettes are any less harmful than before.